


Beer, smokes and a couple of Corpses

by liliaeth



Category: Warm Bodies - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, POV Outsider, Yuletide Treats, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:45:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liliaeth/pseuds/liliaeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A survivor from another community runs into Julie and R as they're spreading the cure</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beer, smokes and a couple of Corpses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Clone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clone/gifts).



Jack had always considered himself easy to please. Food in his belly, a pack of smokes in his pocket, a good beer and a pretty boy on his lap and he was the happiest man alive. It didn't matter that his mom had kept suggesting states that allowed gay marriage, or that Stephen's eyes lingered a bit too long when they met couples with children. Jack wasn't a dad type of guy, but he knew he'd end up giving in on that whether he wanted to or not. Hell, all Stephen had to do was turn those puppy dog eyes on him and he'd be buying onesies and baby toys in no time. The marriage happened in Massachusetts, the kids... were being planned.

But then the apocalypse happened, there was no more mom telling him to be sure to bring Stephen along for dinner, no more Stephen to remind him to iron his shirts or push his fingers through his hair to straighten it out, and he got stuck in this small town with a bunch of people with sticks up their butts that rolled their eyes when he wasted his electricity on keeping his beer cold, instead of his food.

Not that anyone had a problem with him, not really, as long as he kept his guns at ready, and was one of the guys that went out for supplies, no one minded too much. And if he stayed outside a bit longer or more often than was really needed, then well, that was his business. Long as he didn’t get himself infected, no one cared that he got himself drunk outside the walls. It's not like he was the only one that went for the liquor cabinets and booze stores while he was supposed to be out looking for supplies.

He doubted that anyone would be surprised if he ended up eaten one of those days.

So when Jack ran into trouble, while cleaning out old man Harper’s sedatives and tools, he just figured he’d thank God for all the time he had had, and hoped that the corpse that got him, choked on him. He almost figured he imagined the sound of “Dancing in the rain” , hitting his ears as he was taken down. The corpse's mouth seemed to grow bigger, with more fangs the closer it got to his throat. It was wearing a Metallica shirt, the once white skulls drawn on the front not caked with blood. At least he'd be eaten by a corpse with taste was all he could think.

No one was more surprised than him when a car came racing down the street, music streaming out of the speakers and a young man jumped out of it. “Wait.” The guy yelled. The guy, a kid really, couldn’t be too far in his twenties, dressed like a preppie.

The corpses all turned to the meal volunteering itself for extras, and Jack was about to call him a nutcase, wondering if the distraction would be enough for him to get away and not just kick the teeth out of the corpse on top of him. Jack hated himself for even thinking that way. There was no way on Gods green earth that Jack would let the idiot get himself killed either. It was one thing to play with his life, but he couldn’t risk someone else’s.

Only the corpses weren’t attacking, instead they stared at the boy in what looked like interest, almost... awareness.

“You can sense it, right?” The kid said, far more secure than the girl sitting in the jeep next to him. “I used to be like you. Dead, hungry, shambling around with no idea why I existed but no desire to give up on it either. My name’s R. And I was a corpse, but I got cured. There’s a cure, you just have to want it.”

The corpse on top of Jack stared at the crazy kid with its dead eyes and Jack finally managed to push it off of him. The thing sat there, it’s attention on the kid, the other corpses shambling towards the car, moving oh so slow, then the head of one of them started moving in tune to the music.

“Life, with all that comes with it, do you want it.” The boy whispered in soft spoken tones.” The corpses closed and Jack crawled up to his feet, grabbing for his gun, ready to shoot at any of them that dared to come near again, but they weren't paying attention to him, not anymore.

“Cuuuuuurrrreee.” One of the corpses suddenly said. 

It wasn’t the first time that Jack had heard a corpse ‘speak’, but it was the first time he’d got an understandable word out of them, something more than a groan and he stood there stunned. Jack expected one of the corpses to grab him as he went up to the car, desperate for them to ignore him.

“Life, music, let go of the hunger.” The boy said, as he took his girl’s hand, the look in his eyes like those of a flower reaching out to the sun. The girl pulled Jack up on the car, just as aware as Jack was of just how tenuous the corpses distraction could be. The boy threw the radio on the ground beside the car, it’s music moving on to a new song, even as the car drove off, with Jack on it. The corpses simply stood there, watching them go.

Jack wondered if he’d still be alive when he woke up, he had to be asleep, or dead, he didn’t know, he wondered if he’d come back as a corpse. But instead he led them the way to the settlement, across the walls. 

And he stared down the walls, a beer in his hands as him and Julie sat there watching while R and some of the other settlers gave music and blankets to the revived that kept coming, listening to the music. 

Life, he drank down his beer, chased it down with a second one, and Julie, the girl, talked about the city she came from. About their little ‘spread the cure’ tour, going from town to town, bringing out the dead and spreading the cure. Exhuming the world she called it.

Jack needed another drink. But then he saw Stephen walking up to the walls, his slow gait as he stared up with dazed up eyes, not a hint of recognition inside of them. Jack saw the wound on his face, where Jack’s bullet had missed the brain. The blue tie that Jack had bought for his husband’s birthday, so many years ago. The bloodstains on that once crisp white shirt, God, Stephen would be disgusted if he could see himself. 

“Give it time.” She said. And Jack stared down at Stephen, waving on the music as he stared down at his reason for living. 

He didn’t cry, men didn’t cry. Men got to work, wasn’t that what his dad always said. 

But then Stephen stared up at him again with just the tiniest flicker of life in his eyes and he just…


End file.
